By Avi Salzman

President Donald Trump and executives at some of the biggest tech companies said at a White House event on Wednesday that they have a plan to keep AI data centers from driving up consumer electricity bills.

Data centers are unpopular in the U.S., and one big reason is that they use an enormous amount of electricity. They've been blamed for driving up utility bills in nearby areas. "The data centers, they need some PR help," Trump said at the start of the meeting.

Trump faces pressure to keep energy inflation down, at a time when the war in Iran is causing oil and gasoline prices to jump. Electricity prices rose 6.3% through January, despite Trump's pledge to reduce prices by 50% by this year.

The companies at the White House event -- Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon -- have said they've agreed to a "ratepayer protection pledge" to build, buy or bring all the power they'll need for their data centers. Trump said the companies will spend so much money on electricity for their data centers that they'll actually reduce bills for nearby consumers.

The tech companies have already been working on these kinds of deals, after the pushback against data centers escalated to the point where many projects were being blocked. More than $150 billion worth of the projects have been delayed or canceled since 2023, according to Data Center Watch, a research firm backed by AI security company 10a Labs.

Big Tech's decision to foot more of the electricity bill has begun to benefit companies that provide power and their stocks. The clearest beneficiaries are utilities, which have been able to sign special contracts with tech companies to provide them with power, often from newly built power plants. Some utilities like Indiana's NiSource, and Louisiana's Entergy have said their agreements with tech companies will lead to lower bills for nearby consumers, because the tech companies will pick up a disproportionate share of the costs. Those utilities have also been able to increase their expected earnings growth rates because the data center customers can vastly expand their asset bases.

It's also helping other companies that can quickly set up off-grid power plants. Bloom Energy, for instance, makes fuel cells that can be trucked to the site of data centers and provide electricity. Caterpillar, which makes natural gas turbines, and Engine-maker Cummins, which makes engines, are also benefiting because their products can be placed on-site at data centers to provide power.

Democrats have criticized the ratepayer pledge for doing too little to ensure tech companies actually follow through. "A handshake agreement with Big Tech over data center costs isn't good enough," wrote Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, on X. "Americans need a guarantee that energy prices won't soar and communities have a say."

While customers at certain utilities may start to see some bill relief in the coming years, it's likely that electricity prices will keep rising in the near term. Last year, utilities asked regulators for permission to hike rates by $31 billion, versus $15 billion in 2024, according to PowerLines, a nonprofit focused on consumer energy issues. Many of those hikes will take effect this year and in the future.

The president seemed to acknowledge that bill relief won't be immediate.

"Unfortunately it will take a little time to get there," Trump said.

Write to Avi Salzman at avi.salzman@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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March 04, 2026 17:04 ET (22:04 GMT)

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